The Grumpy Librarian: Chardonnay literature
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
♥ Loved: Wally Lamb, She’s Come Undone
♥ Loved: Jeannette Walls, The Silver Star
X Hated: Herman Koch, The Dinner
Recommendation: Shelved in a subdivision of the Middlebrow Novel are the books with sufficient “literariness” to merit reviews in the Paper of Record, but also the accessible breeziness to survive chick-lit-ed book clubs. The Grumpy Librarian is going to call them “chardonnay literature,” because she is feeling condescending about both Wally Lamb and chardonnay. They read easy, but have enough literary nutrition to be consumed without the reader being marked as a genre weirdo or fan-fic lady.
“Easy” does not describe the nastiness of literally every character and plotline in Herman Koch’s novel. Those wacky Dutch: You would think the home of so many supermodels and marijuana cafes would produce more relaxed and appealing best-sellers. Then again, the most famous Dutchman the GL can think of is Willem de Kooning (whose paintings are lots of things, but “relaxed” or “appealing” are not among them). In case “stay away from de Kooning exhibitions” was not exactly the advice you were hoping for from the Grumpy Librarian, she also has an honest-to-goodness book recommendation for you: Anne Tyler’s 1982 best-selling and multi-award-nominated Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. It’s got flawed-but-likable female characters, dramatic stakes and enough poetic touches to justify it for the book club or the classroom. Lit-nerd bonus: It has not been made into a movie.
